SECAUCUS -- A Union City man who had a menagerie of birds on a Secaucus Road property has been charged with 51 counts of animal cruelty
following an investigation into the lot.

The man, Eugenio Oramas, 56, of Union City told The Jersey
Journal in May that he had raised the birds, which include pheasants, ducks,
chickens and turkeys, as a hobby.

"I love my animals ... When I get too many I put them in the
Meadowlands," Oramas said in May.

However, when Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli showed up at
the 1.9-acre property unannounced yesterday afternoon, he discovered Oramas had created a hen
house of horrors by slaughtering the birds at the lot.

"There was a 55-gallon drum of feathers and feet," Gonnelli
said yesterday. "This was his hobby to raise them, to butcher them."

Today, Secaucus officials removed the birds from the coop,
aiding in transporting them to Swift Farms in Hunterdon County.

"It's a sad thing," said Swift Farms owner Harry Swift, who
has had prior dealings with the town and the Liberty Humane Society in
Jersey City. "(The farm) raises animals and people eat meat, but there's a
proper way of doing things."

In total, 51 birds were taken from the coop and delivered to
the farm, Gonnelli said today.

Along with the birds, investigators found several knives, a bow
with several arrows and human antibiotics in a pill bottle.

Officials at the scene said they do not believe
Oramas would be charged in connection with the bow and arrows.

Gonnelli said that along with the animal cruelty charges,
Oramas would be issued several summonses for health and fire code violations.

An Amtrak employee who said he had been visiting the lot
while working in the nearby area described Oramas as "a nice guy."

"He always seemed like a nice guy," said the man, who wished
to remain anonymous. "He seemed like he was all right, but what are you going to
do?"